# Reapings and Gleanings

- Link: https://writersworkshopindia.com/2015/07/19/reapings-and-gleanings/
- Published: 2015-07-19T18:03:50+00:00
- Author: admin

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**Description: **
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**Author:** Shivaprasad Samaddar
 **Pages:** 52 **Year of Publication:** 1990 **
Price:** HB Rs 100, FB Rs 80 **ISBN:** HB 81-7189-074-1 (8171890741) FB 81-7189-
075-X (817189075X)

**_ About the Author:_**
 Born on 23 December 1926 at Nothullabad, near Barisal (
now Bangladesh), Shivaprasad Samaddar received his education from Barisal Zilla 
School, Rangpur Carmichael College, Presidency College (Calcutta), and the Indian
Institute of Science (Bangalore). After completing his post-graduation in Chemical
Engineering, he joined the Indian Administrative Service in 1949, where his last
posting was as Steel and Mines Secretary to the Government of India. He went on 
to join the Union Public Service Commission and retired in 1988. Since then he has
been drawn to the field of education and human resource development. He has been
a Visiting Professor at the Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani, a
member of the Education Committee of the Gandhi Vidya Mandir Sardar Shahr and the
editor of _Educational Technology_, the monthly publication of the All India Association
for Educational Technology.

**_ Teaser:_**

_To Compose a Poem_

I’ve sat down this evening with pen and mind
 To compose a poem — Shall I tell a
story or philosophize? Shall I rhyme it or use blank verse — In the old style of
payar or tripadi — Or make it a modernistic prose poem? Shall I give the message
straight in simple words, For all to understand at ease Or draw thoughts from the
depth of the mind To spin and twist them before presentation In zigzags and signals
the tortuous path Lends weight to the body through shadows?

In painting today they look down upon
 The natural way of “draw as you see”, Drawing
from the mind’s eye will go far, Complex lines and colours will lend aristocracy,“
Out of the world” makes to the top of the world — Linear cubic, dotted, two in one—
Sometimes it’s impressionism, sometimes expressionism, Whatever is indicated by 
the brush is real.

In search of music too the ear is deafened,
 Single stringed or sweet melody is 
not preferred, Concert or musical harmony holds the field, We get large and small
instruments in array In grandeur and the recurrence of notes, Grammar surpasses 
the idea and expression Harder becomes music, vocal and instrumental, Going the 
same way as poetry and painting.

Sat down to compose a poem,
 Could not progress though it’s midnight, In what body
and dress shall I get it, In which polish shall I make it resplendent? I’m at a 
loss what to do — To compose a poem I could not.

**_Contents:_**

REAPINGS IN LOVE AND TOIL
 To Compose a Poem / 9 Mother’s Hand / 11 Circumambulation/
13 Arrival / 15 Menu-Card for Birthday / 17 Two Faces of the Forest / 18 A Missing
Page from the Mahabharata / 21 Birthday at Kohima / 23 The Power of Awakening / 
29 The Place, the Address / 30 My Sixty-fourth Birthday / 33 Who Am I? / 35

GLEANINGS FROM GRAND HARVESTERS
 Midnight and Morning / 37 Rabindranath Tagore Year
1400 / 39 Banalata Sen / 41 Jibananda Das: A Day Eight Years Ago / 42 Jibananda 
Das: Words / 45 Premendra Mitra: Once upon a Time / 46 Premendra Mitra: Alaka Sanyal/
48 Satchidananda Rout Roy: Chandrasakhi of Ningthoukhong / 49 Nilkanta: Awaiting
an Answer / 52